Evangelion: Primum Revelation Reprise
by Kain Tempest
Summary: A rewrite of Primum Revelation, an unofficial continuation of the Evangelion saga. Asuka and Shinji awaken to find a world where mankind and the Evangelions have been reborn.
1. Beginning at the End

**Foreword**

Back during my years in university, I decided that I wanted to write a fan fiction of Neon Genesis Evangelion as a spiritual sequel very much like Evangelion R. In it, I chose to take on the task of telling the story after Third Impact as was depicted in End of Evangelion. Despite how many cardinal rules I broke in that fiction, a lot of people were very positive about it and prayed that I would write the story to its conclusion. Unfortunately, I never really had any kind of conclusion in mind when I started writing the series and in the end, it finally trailed off as the plot lines became long, fibrous, and splitting.

Over the years this writing project has fallen by the wayside, and eventually I unearthed a long forgotten copy of the succeeding chapter beyond the one that was posted. After reading it over, I became disgusted with the quality and angry at myself for producing such a terrible work and realized that despite all he praise I received, I didn't like the work myself.

A few days ago, I stumbled upon the trailers for the Evangelion remake and it inspired me to return to this old work and finally get back to writing it as a creative project to fill up time that I don't want to do anything else with.

I don't know if I will ever finish it, or if it can ever be finished to begin with. In the end, Primum Revelation was merely the tip of an ever expanding iceberg as I tried to explain a major social and societal shift in humanity without fully exploring it. I definitely liked many plot points and many of the characters, but the later chapters started getting worse. What I've decided to do was to rewrite the entire work and do my damnedest to make it better than the original.

One thing I decided to toss out what trying to play fancy tricks with languages. English will be used predominantly throughout the entire work and I have wish to avoid having complete lines of other languages used. While not true in the story itself, all dialog will be translated and a specification of what language was being spoken will be added. This clears confusion due to bad translations, ugly writing as I would try and explain things, line per line, and ultimately keep nothing held away from the reader.

If you enjoyed the original version of this series I hope you'll stick around and new readers I hope you also enjoy this and future submissions. I really like to get feedback from readers and hear their thoughts, gripes, and suggestions. Finding and learning from my mistakes helps me improve the quality of my writing and gives me incentive in order to continue. Ultimately this work is for myself, like any other. I intend to keep it that way, though I will be mighty pleased if people enjoy it as much as I will.

Thank you,

TS aka Kain Tempest

PS: The first chapter is nearly identical to the original except for a few minor alterations near the middle and end. If you read the original, you can start from chapter two without too much confusion. I intend to make the first real changes in the chapters following the first.

* * *

_The series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, from which this work of fictions is based is owned by GAINAX. Character from the source material are also owned by GAINAX. Original content herein is owned by the respective creators._

**Evangelion: Primum Revelation Reprise**  
Chapter 1: The Beginning at the End  
Written by TS "Kain Tempest"

The tinny bronze bell clattered on the door frame as the wooden door burst open, vomiting two soggy lumps out of the slick cold street and into the dusty dry confines of the dark store front. Thunder rumbled in the sky, drums of war as the clouds promised to invade the land, washing away the black filth that clung to the rooftops, walls, and pavement, sending down to the bottom of the hilly countryside.

Sneakers squished and knees knocked as the weary young man clung to the door, allowing entrance to his exhausted comrade. His breath came out in hard puffs, hers were shallow and slow. Too tired to shiver and too sick to care, the teenage girl stumbled in, shooting a hand out to catch the cash counter. The act slowed her fall to the floor, but still gave an audible thump.

Immediately her partner clamoured on his hands and knees, touching her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She stiffened at his touch, turning her head slowly to glare at him with a single, cobalt eye, set ablaze with a lower simmer of anger from beneath scarlet tresses. The look alone was enough for the young man to retract his hand, for fear of being burned.

"The food went bad." She hissed, letting her hand rest of the floor, her back to him. "But I'll be fine. Once the rain stops we can keep going."

"This is serious Asuka, I don't want you to die." Slowly the young woman rolled onto her back and looked at her companion as he knelt nearby, his face creased with concern. His dark brown hair was plastered to his skull and the circles under his eyes only further marked the incredible depth of his dark blue eyes. Her mind wandered, stumbled really, into puzzling over his Japanese lineage to possess such a Caucasoid feature. A wave of nausea, however soon brought her out of her ponderings.

Rolling away to have her back to him again, Asuka began to heave. The young man bit his lower lip, looking away as the unpleasant grunts intensified to straining gags, gurgles, and finally panting and spats. He turned back to see her return to the foetal position and begin to shiver in the red, skin-tight suit she wore. Shifting closer, he felt reached to touch her.

"Don't touch me!" Asuka's cry was more like a wail, but he stopped her protector's approach. His hand hovered above her before retreating to his lap. She began coughing and that only tensed the young man's muscles even more. With a sigh, he began to unbutton his white shirt and draped it over Asuka.

"Shinji?" She asked, almost immediately berating herself for asking such a stupid question. Of course that was who it was. Despite the clammy nature of the shirt however, she dived into it, drawing it close, despite the unpleasant odour of the ocean that clung to the fabric.

"Just rest. I'm going to find something to make you feel better." Shinji stood up and moved slowly, cautiously through the dark shop. They had given up trying to use light switches, everything was off the grid now. "I'll be back soon." He added over his shoulder as he was enveloped in shadow. He tried to sound brave, but that quaver in his voice, from stress and fear, not to mention a momentary cracking, only showed his uneasiness.

Shinji strained to hear Asuka's ragged breath over the grumbling sky without and the squeak of his sneakers on the tile floor. His eyes scanned the dim surroundings, coming across shelves with a limited selection of anything beyond instant meals, cheap freeze-dried fare. A lone box of curry stood resolutely, seeming to try and challenge the teen.

Shinji gave a faint smile, a small memory surfacing. When Tokyo-3 became his home and Misato became nearly family. So many changes and anxieties had plagued him when he moved to the city. So many responsibilities had been placed on his shoulders, but Misato opened her door and her arms to him. In a way she had been just a kid too, looking for some kind of company. A thirty-year old looking for a little brother she probably never had.

He could still taste the blood on his lips from the time she kissed him, the first and last time. The small ounce of joy corrupted by the macabre recollection was paid back with anger to the little box of curry, which was slapped off the shelf and clattered into a shadowy corner elsewhere.

Shinji resumed his search, collecting bottles of water. They certainly were not medicine in and of themselves, but at least she shouldn't get sick on it. He shouldn't have forced food upon Asuka. He knew she was sick but he was adamant that they needed to avoid going hungry. A whole day with nothing and when opportunity knocked, Shinji wasn't going to take his chances that they would have such good fortune again.

Coming to a counter at the far end of the store, Shinji realized with pleasure that he had somehow found a pharmacy to take shelter in. He hurriedly approached the counter, peering over as if hoping someone was going to be there. He knew better, but somehow hope got the better of him, and despair immediately followed close behind. Down on the floor behind the desk was a collection of clothes, sodden in a puddle of viscous gold fluid. The associations immediately resulted in a reaction much like finding a corpse, given the implication of the fluid as LCL. Somewhere in the back of the boy's head, he somehow wished he had found a corpse, so at the very least there was some indication that somehow had been here at one time, rather than just the implication that puddle told.

Setting down the water, Shinji slowly climbed over the counter, gripping it firmly as he lowered himself over the other side, planting his feet down on the floor. With a sharp intake he lost his footing, falling backwards into the puddle, with equal parts shock and horror on his face. Scrambling, he pulled himself out of the ooze, feeling it slowly roll off of his naked back and slide down his pants.

"I'm so sorry." Shinji apologized to the air, as if he was now under the scrutiny of a ghost who's resting place had been disturbed by a bumbling oaf.

Turning his attention the shelves once guarded by the pharmacist on duty, Shinji was dismayed to find he didn't understand anything written on the containers. Having no understanding of medicine nor the willingness to pore over any written records if one existed, it dawned on Shinji why non-prescription drugs who so highly valued. Dejected, Shinji returned to the counter and climbed over again, stealing a glance at the puddle before collecting the water and returning to the regular shopping aisles and proceeding to grab items at random.

Minutes later, Shinji returned to the front of the store, arms full with the bounty of items he practically grabbed at random from the various shelves. Asuka was lying still and gently he shook her shoulder. She awoke with a start and then relaxed into a groan.

"Why'd you have to wake me? I was asleep for the first time in…" Her grumbling trailed off as her she rolled on her back to look at him through a slowly lifting grogginess.

"I'm sorry." Shinji responded, receiving an irritated snort in return. "I found some medicine, it might make you feel better." Asuka pushed herself up to a sitting position. Shinji picked up the first of several bottles. "Two tablets with water." He read and studied the instructions on the screw top after a failed first attempt and opening it.

"Give me that!" She snapped, plucking the bottle from his hand and deftly unscrewed the lid and shook out the recommended dosage. Not missing a moment, Shinji handed her an opened bottle of water which she took with far more care than the medication and immediately downed the tablets and a liquid chaser. She gave another full body shiver and Shinji got up to his feet.|

"Where are you going now?"

"Blankets, jackets, curtains, something. You look like you're freezing." She didn't say anything else. Asuka sat quietly for a few moments before feeling a tickle again, in irritation she started hunting for cough syrup or lozenges. Even though she couldn't read kanji, she could at least see if there was some kind of chemical list. She was smart after all, so it wouldn't be that hard to find what she was looking for.

Coming across one box, too thick, wide, or tall to be a box of lozenges. Curiosity took it as she carefully opened it and produced one of the items. Semi-cylindrical, the small tube was wrapped in opaque cellophane but Asuka immediately realized what she had found. Strange that they would be in such a small quantity, but then again, it was a different culture out here, so how could she know what the Japanese considered a normal quantity. Either way, the small item was definitely going to be useful and she opted to slip it into the front pocket of Shinji's shirt for later. Since they were travelling light and going through population centres, one would be enough.

Asuka returned to the medications with a semi-satisfied grunt, coming across a small bottle with a logo she recognized from Germany. At least globalization was good for finding cough syrup when you didn't know the language. With a grin she twisted the top off and took a swig, immediately confident of her choice with the sweet taste of the liquid. So sweet in fact that she needed to wash it down with some water.

Asuka didn't dwell on how long she had waited for Shinji's returned, but the discovery of a blanket and towels were not something she felt pressured to ask about either. They both looked awful when they made eye contact. Shinji was fortunate enough to not have an eye bound over with cause and soiled gauze wrapped around his right arm. Whatever horrors caused the wounds and who treated them where a mystery or something that Asuka simply refused to share.

"We should get going soon." Asuka started. Shinji simply shook his head.

"It's going to be dark soon, and it sounds like it's going to rain. We'll be safe here."

"Safe from what?"

"I don't know. But we'd be better off staying out of the rain." Asuka smiled weakly.

"Oh Shinji, I didn't know you were afraid of the dark."

"Of course not!" Asuka sighed, the teasing boring her sooner than she had hoped, her eyes drifting out the windows to the quickly gathering storm. She drew her knees towards her chin, completely ignoring her companion as he unwrapped a roll of toilet paper and began wiping off something that looked like cooking oil off of his back and arms. Asuka looked at it and curled her lip in disgust. They exchanged glances before Asuka looked away. They both knew what it was. They probably spent nearly a third of their fifteenth year submerged in the stuff.

The pills were slowly beginning to work, easing her stomach and Asuka sighed in relief. She wiped her forehead with her right arm and paused to study the bandaged appendage. Stretching her right arm to the ceiling, she spread her fingers and flexed them, wincing at a momentary sting as her middle and ring finger struggled to heed her command. She didn't want to see whether or not the brilliant red scar had gone away.

Days before, she had hazard to remove the bandage to discover the fine, puffing scar running down the middle of her hand and arm all the way to the elbow. It had horrified her immensely, her imagination conjuring up the idea that only a thin layer of healing skin held her arm together, and that a sudden jolt would split it in twain with a sickening ripping sound.

Asuka pulled her extended hand back against her, trying to fight off the nightmare vision. What scared her most about it was that she couldn't recall anything about how she had gotten so badly injured. The same fear that caught her in regards to her arm had stopped her from looking under the bandage over her left eye.

A tickle started wending it's way through her, and Asuka hunched forward hacking furiously.

"Damn it." The red head snarled, skin on her back prickling from the shock. Arching her back she took a deep breath of air, trying to clear her lungs and shuddered, dropping down to rest against the cold tile floor. More so than the walking or the vomiting, the coughing fits had drained all the energy she had. She turned her head to regard Shinji as he finished removing the yellow ooze and tossing the soiled towel aside.

Asuka found herself fixated on Shinji's naked back as he cleaned, not out of lust, but rather from the distant fascination with the way his skin, muscles, and skeleton, moved together. He didn't have much fat nor muscle to truly conceal the inner workings, it was a good reflection of his own character, transparent.

"Lift your head." She stared at Shinji, not quite computing what he had said. When he repeated himself, she complied and the boy slid a folded towel under her head as a pillow. As she lowered her head against the cushion, Shinji unfolded the blanket and laid it over top of her. "The medicine should also help you sleep." Asuka yawned in agreement, nodded as she relaxed and slowly closed her eyes.

Shinji slumped his shoulders, cocking his head and smiling as he watched Asuka drift into sleep. Deep down he knew it didn't matter who he would have woken up with on the white beach, he would have still shown the same amount of concern. For all he knew, they were the last two people left alive, and looking at all the empty towns from… He shook his head vigorously, forcing out the memory of that horrible place.

Shinji's silent recollections were broken by another one of Asuka's fitful coughs and an irritated grunt as she cleared her throat.

"Are you-"

"Yes. Fine. Stop asking… Just give me some more water." Shinji complied and handed it over. Asuka took a swig and grimaced as another wave of nausea struck her. "Worst feeling in the world. I can't even get to sleep. Stupid, useless cough syrup." She turned her head and watched Shinji pick up a small, squat jar. "What's that?"

"Vapour salve." She levelled an irritated look at the boy and snatched the jar from him.

"It had better be more useful than…" She paused, looking at the directions and cursing in German. "I can't read this." She tossed the jar back at Shinji, who fumbled with the container before finding the instructions.

"'Rub directly onto skin of back and upper chest."

"It doesn't say that! You're just trying to take a peep, you pervert!"

"Don't call me that! I'm trying to make your feel better, nothing more. You think I'd want to do something like that to you?" Asuka's expression was muddy to say the least and looked away as she considered her next response. A moment later and she snatched the jar from Shinji, and pressed the switches on the one remaining arm of the crimson plug suit wrapped around her body.

Asuka was impressed to find out that the suction mechanism still worked, making for a simple and easy suit to wear. She had chosen not to get rid of it, finding it comforting to wear. The small vents on the suit hissed open and the suit loosened. Shifting her long locks over her shoulder, she reached for the clasp at the back of the neck and shot Shinji an irritated, sideway glare. Like a well trained canine, Shinji turned his back to her while she undressed.

"If you peek I'll kill you." Shinji's head ducked beneath his shoulders at those chilling words. Unscrewing the cap, Asuka spread the stuff across her collar, taking a breath at the chemical chill. The back of her mind fumbled for what chemical it would be. She continued to rub and breathed into the sharp smell. Scooping up more, she spread it across her lower back, reaching up and struggling from under and above her shoulders to reach the spot that had given her the most discomfort. With a growl of frustration, she turned her back completely to Shinji and pressed the blanket over her chest.

"Shinji! Turn around I need your help." There was a moment's hesitation.

"Is this a trick?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Turn around and help me get this stuff on my back. Now!"

"Are you sure!"

"Yes! Stop screwing around!" Shinji slowly turned, he face beet red. Asuka simply rolled her eyes. Not only was he boring and slow, but he was so damn shy. There were plenty of times when she was prancing around with just a towel and now he was scared of her back? She jerked her head towards her back. "Hurry up."

Shinji crawled over, picked up the jar, and hesitantly started spreading the cream as directed. As the minutes passed, Shinji started to relax again. Despite what his peers would consider a wonderful experience, that of touching 'girl flesh', the silence just made it far too awkward.

"Okay, that's enough. Turn away again." Shinji backed away and turned around as told. Dressing, Asuka noticed the meagre blanket that was Shinji's white shirt.

"Do you want your shirt back?"

"It's fine." Their conversation seemed distant. There was nothing for them to talk about, and what they did discuss tended to turn into an argument, then a shouting match. Anything else was too strange for either of them, their last attempt at real communication almost left Shinji with a knuckle sandwich. Asuka lingered on that, thinking about the call from Germany. She pulled on Shinji's shirt and buttoned it up, wrapping the upper portion of her plug suit around her waist like a belt.

"Done." Asuka announced laying back down and looking at the ceiling. Shinji didn't move.

"Are you decent?" He asked. Asuka gave another irritated snort.

"Yes. That's what I said, you idiot." The boy sighed and stood up, stepping towards the back of the store. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get some more sheets so that we can both get some rest." Asuka rolled onto her side and propped her head up, a coy grin on her face.

"Why don't you sleep next to me? You can keep me warm." Shinji half turned and glared at her.

"Stop teasing me like that." Asuka's face played the game of innocence.

"What do you mean? It's a fair offer."

"Stop it."

"Then why don't you stop apologizing for everything? It's pathetic." She snapped back. Shinji's strong face fell away.

"Sorry."

"Again. Are you hardwired to say that? It's not your damn fault…" Asuka trailed off at the strange look Shinji gave her. "You really think you're responsible for all this?"

"I am." Shinji turned and crouched down to look at Asuka squarely. "I can't say for sure, but I know it. And you do too." Asuka's skin crawled as what she thought was Shinji's idea of a joke got eerily close to the truth. She remembered flying, but not in a good way. Shinji dropped down to a sitting position. "I saw what they did to you. What they did to Unit-02." Asuka looked away.

"I dreamt of flying and pain. I knew I was doing both because you weren't there." Her voice grew quiet. "You let me die."

"I did not."

"You didn't help me."

"I wanted to… But the cages were flooded."

"No. There was always a way. If the invincible Shinji can kill any Angel sent his way, water wouldn't slow him down." She looked at him again with a look of bottomless anger, something that was rare even for her. "You let me die."

"I'm still human. Using the EVA is different."

"You had it all and you lost your nerve. Was it because your stopped loving you?"

"What?"

"I'm talking about Wonder Girl, idiot."

"She… She couldn't remember anything."

"So she got amnesia, which is why she never came back to you. Your twisted doll forgot about you and that's why she's not hear in my place. Not worth the effort the second time around, huh?" Shinji bunched up his fists and pressed her chin against his chest. How he wished he had the courage, to beat Asuka within an inch of her life. Once for every jab. Every mention of being a pervert, a pig, a loser, and so much more.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" He cried. The anguish in his voice only fuelled Asuka's fire which now boiled over with disgust.

"Is that it? Is that all you have to say."

"Shut up!"

"Your wish was never fulfilled. You thought you could get your wishes, you could get Wonder Girl back, but when it was me… You thought it was better to have no one at all. That's why…" Asuka blinked and touched her throat. Shinji looked up and the colour drained from his face.

"No! I didn't mean to." Like a flicker all the trust Shinji believed he had gained with Asuka disappeared. Her rage had swelled up so suddenly he had no idea it was coming. He felt worn to he bone and resorted to the best course he hand. He slapped his hands over his ears, snapped his eyes shut and locked his jaw.

Asuka stood up and looked down at the Pathetic Shinji, he mouth drawn into a firm line.

"To hell with you." She hissed, turning and opening the door. She slammed it behind her and entered the dusky evening. Anywhere was better than with him.

* * *

The sound and smell of the ocean drew Asuka away from the city and towards the harbour. The storm clouds and dusk left the world in a near darkness, the steel gray horizon being the only thing that cut through the shadows. All knowledge of time had passed and the lack of any real sky obscured the time and the distance she had travelled. She looked at the ocean and simply stared at the vastness before her. The sea breeze struck her face and she breathed it in, the nausea having passed.

There were no lights, no bird calls, or the final farewell horn of a freighter. Wonder Girl said something about it, about the shadows. It was on one of those days. Those rare times when all three of them had to work together to stop an Angel. In retrospect, she didn't mind it as much as when Shinji was alone, holding the glory, though sharing it was just as bad as losing. Having lived her entire life in order to kill Angels and to share the kill with others disappointed her. What made it worst of all however, was when she was defeated by someone who was in fact weaker than her.

Asuka sat down on the pier and looked down at the rouge water. The legacy that marked the end of the world. In her mind's eye, she could still see the black battlefield. The Evangelion's hung frozen in time, great land marks surrounding a massive sea of red. She saw the broken porcelain face that towered over the mountains and shuddered. She never wanted to return to that nightmare realm.

Something stood out in the scarlet water and Asuka stared at it curiously. It floated on the surface, puffing with something hanging beneath it. At first she thought it was a jelly-fish but she immediately dismissed that notion. It drifted closer to the pier and Asuka slowly dropped down to her stomach, looking over the edge and extended a hand out towards the thing, her finger nails barely touching it. She edge herself closer to the end of the pier and tried again, reaching further.

Finally, her fingers found purchase and she gripped onto the sodden fabric tightly. She pulled, seeming rather light, whatever it was. Hauling it up out of the water freed the object from it's buoyancy and the item regained its original weight, multiplied many fold by the water soaking into it. Asuka was pulled off balance and with a gasp was pulled over and under.

What little light on the surface quickly disappeared in the depths. It was warm, safe, and free of even the sound of the wind. It was like the womb or the plug. Asuka was reminded of Unit-02 and of her mother, locked inside both. But like vipers the violence and the betrayal of both of those cherished things came lashing at her. She had to get out.

Sensing distress, her mind ordered her to struggle. Her arms swung, her legs kicked, and she clawed for the surface, for air, for peace. The water seemed to pull her body down while more memories assailed her, drowning her.

Asuka could see the coolant pipes from which she hung, deep in the earth's core. She saw them tear and she saw the surface disappear. The horrid darkness and crushing pressure promising a gruesome death from which she would never be found. The pressure would cause the EVA to crumple and the heat inside the plug would intensify. The LCL would sublimate and she would be incinerated before her little world was crushed.

Her descent had been halted however, when a blackened devil grabbed onto her. She had looked up to see the visage of Unit-01 leering down at her. Shinji had saved her. But he wasn't here now, but she didn't need him.

The undertow continued to drag at her, but Asuka found purchase, something had in which she clung to. She hauled herself upward with all the strength she could muster. There was now no lead, and she was blind but she just needed to move, praying she was going in the right direction. Her lungs burned and she continued clawing upwards.

When her face broke the surface she took long puffs of air and opened her eyes, seeing the stormy sky above. Thunder growled on the land, a drum that heralded a parting in the clouds and the glimmer of a river of stars. The ocean waves calmed, caressed, loosing the hateful, bitter nature that had once tried to drown her and now was so calming and benign.

"This is what it's like to be reborn, isn't it?" Asuka asked the heavens. There was no answer, but she didn't want one either way. She lowered her gaze and looked around. Her anchor was a wooden post submerged beneath the surface several yards away from the pier. How much further would she have been taken out the sea were it not for her saving grace.

Asuka paddled back to the pier and with a grunt, heaved the weighted cloth up out of the water before chasing after it. Panting, she pulled herself clear of the ocean and sat, pulling the item of interest in her lap, hoping it was worth nearly drowning for. The wind returned and chilled Asuka's soaked clothes, but she didn't care now.

A jacket of red and black cloth. It seemed familiar, but Asuka couldn't place it until she saw the silver tag on the collar indicating the rank of major. It was Misato's jacket. What had happened to the poor example of a guardian? The answer was sobering to say the least.

They were gone. Not dead nor far away. They were simply and truly gone. They would never come back, what was here now was all that was left. Asuka raised her eyes to the silver horizon. Now it was just her on a pier in a big, empty world. Misato, Wonder Girl, the Three Stooges… Shinji was the only person left. Was this was she was afraid of? She was on the razor's edge of something shed had wanted for years. But once she had it, what was the point?

Asuka forgot what it was like to cry. Not tears of fury or frustration. She had no more tears to shed since she had made that promise to herself all those years ago. But now the anguish and despair, the raw emotion had been left loose and it was the only thing her body wanted to do. She was confused, set betwixt so many points in a paradoxical puzzle with no solution. Her mind was lost long before, her body not soon after, but now she could feel her soul dying.

She buried her face into Misato's sodden jacket to muffle the wracking sobs. It felt good, to know that no one was watching, to let out as much as she could. Until the lump in her throat felt like it was going to burst. All the heartache in one wave of tears.

She heard someone say her name and her breath caught in her throat. Looking over her shoulder towards the city she saw the owner of the voice approach, wearing only white sneakers and black slacks. She stood to face him, stoic and silent. He slowed his approach.

"What took you so long?" She asked. The boy stopped and shook his head. Asuka was now thankful she had slipped into the sea, all the better to hide the tears she had shed.

"Are you alright?" He asked, but his eyes quickly flowed downwards.

"What? Should I be? What are you looking at?" She followed his gaze down to her chest and realized she was still wearing his white shirt, now soaked. She shielded her modesty with the jacket. "What are you doing? You don't have to look, pervert!"

"Sorry." Shinji looked away and Asuka took the moment to don the jacket and zip it up, grimacing at the slimy feeling that the water left. The boy looked back and stared in shock. "Where did you get that?"

"It was just floating in the ocean. It was getting chilly so I decided to pick it up."

"But that's Miss Misato's-"

"So what? If her ghost decides to haunt me at least I don't have to talk with you all day then."

"Okay. I'm glad that you're feeling better. Sorry to bother you." He turned away.

"What? You came all this way to check on me? You just follow me around like some stray mutt. Don't walk away from me. I'm not finished!" Shinji started away and Asuka followed a few steps behind him. A crack of thunder far louder than before startle the both of them as it finally called down a downpour.

The duo hurried down the dark streets, finding shelter in the first hospitable place. Stumbling through the door they looked upon a large show room. A store for furniture.

* * *

Asuka snuggled into the covers of the showroom bed, quenching the chill that finally caught up to her from the pier. Shinji heard his friend trying to settle nearby from an overstuffed couch.

"Are you alright?" He asked. The rain striking the roof and windows softening his voice.

"I'm fine, stop asking." Asuka grumbled. Forty-eight hours of being practically shackled together when they awoke on that beach. For months she was his roommate and she couldn't stand his anxiety but now for once, she didn't care enough to stress over it. It was reflex now.

Asuka raised her right hand up out of the covers. The bandages had been ruined and did nothing to hide the terrible scar. Wincing, she carefully removed most of the gauze, but in order to pander to her macabre fantasy, she kept some of it tightly bound at the wrist, just in case it split apart while she slept. She then touched her forehead and realized that the dressings over her left eye were also ruined. Her hands hovered over the bandaged eye but then fell back under the covers. She would rather not know.

She rolled her head to the right where Shinji's shirt and Misato's jacket were drying on a reclining chair. No real thoughts came to her while looking at them. She knew then that she was exhausted.

"Shinji?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you go out to look for me?"

"You were sick. I was scared and I didn't want you to die."

"That's a poor excuse." There was a pause.

"Sorry."

"Idiot." Again, reflex, but softer than usual. "Guten nacht."

"… Good night." She knew he would mess it up, but he wasn't going to get any points for copping out.

"Good night then."

**To Be Continued…**

**

* * *

Author's Notes**

I tried to remain vague with the one change that I added to the chapter. It felt like I needed to make a great deal of logical leaps in order for Asuka to think what she did and thus keep the item, and I honestly don't know how women treat the subject of menstruation. I feel rather juvenile for bringing it up but the benefit is that I can probably knock one or two chapters off and remove two characters which I personally felt were useless, you'll probably know the ones I'm talking about.


	2. DIY

_The series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, from which this work of fiction is based is owned by GAINAX. Character from the source material are also owned by GAINAX. Original content herein is owned by the respective creators._

**Evangelion: Primum Revelation Reprise  
**Chapter 2: Do It Yourself  
Written by TS "Kain Tempest"

Shinji almost felt as though ever joint in his index finger had been dislocated with the force at which he pressed the trigger. The ferocity of the move turned what would have been a casual, yet fatal move to carry with it all of his emotion. Unit-01's arm barely showed any sort of strain, the sack of blood in its fist was more fragile than are. The skeleton was reduced to powder and the sheer pressure caused the skin to rupture, bursting the vessel like a balloon. The sound was as clear as a gunshot, but was far more painful, an icy knot digging into Shinji's stomach.

The disgusting sound echoed against the walls, ringing out and causing ripples to form on the golden lake. At the moment that the trigger was pulled, some small, but significant part of Shinji died with the being in the Evangelion's synthetic fist. An era had ended but so too were the ignorant days that children blissfully while away. Shinji had been faced with a terrible choice that now determined his place in the world forever. As he came to that conclusion, the singular splash in the lake confirmed it.

Shinji kept his shoulders hunched, his head down, not wanting to see the end product. Unit-01 unclenched its fist and let the bloody pulp drop. With a sight; the behemoth lowered it's hand to its side. The war with the Angels was over. NERV no longer had a reason to exist, and Shinji had lost all of his value to them and the world. He knew it in his heart, but only voices echoed in his head.

There was no one to blame but himself. Unit-01's hand was just that same as his own. He was in complete control and will the power to change events, but instead he proceeded upon the course presented to him. Shinji had killed someone, not something, not an Angel, but a human being. Any other Angel would be easy enough to destroy, but now he had been faced with something too human and so far from artificiality that he could not deny what he had done. It didn't help that the Fifth Child had cared about him, an honest sense of mutual love.

Shinji looked up, staring at the horizon when the blackness of the earth above and the lake below met.

"The song is good." Shinji blinked in surprise at the voice. Slowly his eyes panned across the field of view, settling upon a dark, round shape bobbing before him in the LCL. Crimson eyes stared directly at him. Not at Unit-01, but directly at him. Kaoru's disembodied held smiled.

XXX

Shinji's awoke with a start, the golden lake disappearing from his minds eye to be replaced by cerulean darkness. He sat up in bed, looking around to get his bearings. The room was drenched in shadows, blue moonlight coming from a solitary window on the other side of the room. Asuka snored softly on the bed beneath that window.

The faint light helped to trace her outline as she slept on the edge of the bed, a pail nearby. It had been a week since they departed from the abandoned city on the coast. The medication had run out and Asuka's bout's of nausea came back. Both were convinced it wasn't a simple case of food poisoning, but rather an incredibly stubborn flu. She had no fever or any other symptoms, just constantly sick to her stomach. Whenever they could scavenge some medication, it was always beneficial, both for Asuka physically but both of the teenager's psyche's as well. No one really tells you just how exhausting illness can be to those around you. Asuka wasn't taking any chances and despite having taken several drugs, had opted to keep the metal bucket handy when they found it at the cabin.

Shinji raised his eyes to look out the window. Aside from the night breeze stirring the leave on the trees, all was peaceful. No animals or monsters stalked those shadows. It was an empty world where would only had to fear exposure and hunger, but never the dark. That kind of thinking helped, especially when one needed to use the lavatory at night, which Shinji needed now.

Bringing his feet over the bed, the boy slipped onto the floor as quiet as possible. Asuka rarely was able to settle and he wouldn't forgive himself if he disturbed her. Of course, Asuka wouldn't let it slide either without extracting a pound of flesh or two. Reaching down, Shinji felt around the floor until his hand settled on the rubber grip of a flashlight while his other hand went for his shoes. Creeping out of the room, closing the door behind him before he flicked on the flashlight and slipped downstairs.

The entire cabin was remarkably well furnished and was probably the weekend get away for a wealthy business person. Carpeting and well made furniture was placed all around making the place seem rather cozy, provided their was electricity and functional plumbing, of which there was neither anymore. As Touji would have said, it was time 'to get back to nature'. Whisking a roll of toilet paper from a supply closet, Shinji headed for the back door.

* * *

Zipping up his fly and fastening his belt, the boy rubbed the dreariness from his eyes and retrieved his flashlight, passing the beam across the grey tree trunks that stood tightly around the property. After a few stepped, Shinji stopped and realized he had been humming. It was clear he must have been without sleep for far too long because he could swear he was hearing music in the distance.

Shinji looked around, trying to remain still and listen for the distant sound that had gotten his attention. Carried by the wind was the sound of someone strumming on a guitar, there was no mistaking it. A glimmer of hope had sprung in the boy as he considered the possibility of other people being alive. He turned to face the distant sound and glanced in the direction of the cabin. He wouldn't be gone for too long.

Not long before being completely encircled by trees did Shinji begin worrying about leaving Asuka on her own. If this were merely his imagination there was no point in dragging the sick girl out of bed only to be reprimanded for causing all this trouble over a fantasy. For all of his luck, it could be a derelict care out in the wilderness with a battery that had yet to run out, playing off of a disc. Something like that would also be too trivial to bother the spitfire with. But car batteries wouldn't last this long, certainly not a week of constantly running, and that was if the world ended and began again on the same day.

"The beginning and the end." Shinji said to himself. He stopped and pondered those worlds. They carried a particular gravity about them and although Shinji did not consider himself religious, the words were incredibly profound when spoken. He knew that the world he knew had long since disappeared, but he felt numb to it. Where there should be staggering despair, Shinji managed to distract himself with caring for Asuka and proceeding on their aimless wanderings.

When they left that terrible nightmare, the inland sea, and the beach with the shattered porcelain face, Shinji had led Asuka aimlessly across the countryside. They didn't know where they were going and were instead drifting from town to town. Asuka hadn't complained until after the city by the sea and Shinji figured that she had been driven not to complain until they were far enough away from 'the Valley of Death' as she had called it. Indeed, once they couldn't see any more titanic limbs towering over them, Shinji had felt a lot more at ease, which was probably why they had lingered at the cabin as long as they had. Far from civilization, they were free from the constant reminder that they were truly alone and could just pretend that they had just isolated themselves from the rest of the world.

Shinji slowed his advance listening carefully for the music, but he couldn't hear it anymore. A sinking sensation in his gut told him that he was just imagining the whole thing. He started turning to go back the way he came when he instead heard someone talking. A person's voice with no musical accompaniment, but far too faint to hear the content of. Shinji quickly ascertained the direction and adjusted his route, heading deeper into the forest and carefully navigating by the light of the moon and the glow of the flashlight.

Passing through the woods and seeing darkness and columns of grey, Shinji couldn't help but be reminded of an old horror movie he saw when he was a child. He wasn't meant to watch it, but it was just a chance encounter while heading to bed and one particular scene was on the television screen. A camcorder with a light being used by someone in the middle of a pitch black forest while they were being chased by something. It was creepy back when Shinji was a child, but it was many weeks later before the scene played out in his dreams, far more terrifying than it had been originally. The malicious white face of the villain staring at the victim with the camera propped up, on the ground. The image went from a freaky scene to an icon of pure terror. Shinji slowed down and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths as the dream began to replay itself in his head.

Despite not being anywhere near an entry plug, Shinji quickly resorted to the meditation exercises at Misato had recommended in order to clear his head for a sync test. The thought of Misato comforted him and despite the tang of sadness in the memory, it was far better than the blind fear that the night terror had inflicted. He began to think of Rei and her calm demeanour, but then suddenly something twisted in the vision of his mind's eye. He recalled the entry plug of Unit-00 and the vision of Rei looking up at him, but it was horribly distorted, transforming into the monster from the late night movie. It reached for him which bulging eyes of crimson and white, talon-like hands. He struggled, flailed, and completely panicked, the reins upon the Evangelion thrown far out of his reach.

Reliving the moment in his head, Shinji felt his heart race as his mind clung to that monstrous image. Opening his eyes, his breath quickening, Shinji panned the flashlight around, the sound of music forgotten. His imagination was getting out of control and although he told himself to stop, his body continued to panic, seeing the white-faced demon looking at him, reaching forward with its sisters, mangled, crowding around him.

A tree trunk, the bark warped by the years looked remarkably like a person's face. Shinji blanched and stumbled away from it. Striking an exposed root with his heel, the boy pitched backwards, becoming weightless for a second before striking a mossy slope. He tumbled and rolled, his back beaten by stones and his arms lashed by brush until he landed in a gully full of wet, rotten leaves.

Shinji laid on his back, looking up at the stars in the sky. He slowly caught his breath, but his mind continued to spin. He felt exhausted, the adrenaline completely sapped out of him. Through heavy lidded eyes he looked to the sky and puzzled about the crimson haze that arced over the heavens. No sooner as the thought crossed his mind, everything dropped into utter darkness.

* * *

"Shinji, where the hell are you?" Asuka groaned, slamming the front door and plunking the wet pail nearby as she eased onto the sofa. She still felt miserable what with the sickness in her stomach and now it was more frustrating than distressing. Especially now that her emotional punching bag had disappeared. Not that she really needed Shinji to be around, but at least his presence would dispense with the boredom.

Asuka estimated how much more medicine she had left as she shook two pills from a bottle and chased them with a bottle of water. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, taking care not to disturb the new dressing on her injured arm. She turned her attention to the ceiling with a sigh. Morning sunlight bled through all the windows, giving the room a pleasant warmth.

If it weren't for her nausea and her irritation at his disappearance, Asuka would have been concerned for her colleague. He couldn't have abandoned her because he had only a flashlight and the clothes on his back and he certainly wouldn't leave supplies he'd been gathering over the past week. There were no animals that could attack him and drag him off, for all she knew they were the last living things on the planet beyond plants. The mostly likely explanation was that he had received the call of the wild and had gotten lost on the way. Eventually he would find his way back.

Asuka took another slug of water, sloshing it in her mouth and then spitting it into the pail, removing the acrid taste of bile, real or imagined. She curled up against the cushions and grumbled. She would have preferred to keep travelling, but she had to wait to get over this flu and for Shinji to make his return. An annoying detail was that she had to overcome the former before she could complete the latter.

Looking at the dreary ceiling, Asuka's mind drifted to the events of the past few days and then earlier. Consciously she skipped over her time in Tokyo-3. She didn't want to deal with the depressing events and the frustration she had faced in that chapter of her life, the only souvenirs beings Shinji, Misato's jacket, her plug suit, and possible the wounds she had now. She touched her bandaged left eye.

Removing the bandage was a inner battle that had take her several hours to get over. Her hands had continued to shake as she stared in the mirror, awaiting the horrific visage that was going to look back at her. The day was a difficult one for her, and between her stomach cramping and the butterflies of fear, she wondered if she was every going to get it removed. When Asuka finally did remove the gauze compress, she was actually surprised by the result. The damage was limited, a small, dark scar on her sclera that ran from her iris to beneath the lower eyelid. The eye itself was still intact aside from the discoloration. A small scar had also been on the lower lid of her eye, having the same terrible redness of an incomplete wound. She had shuddered when she touched the soft, tender tissue and found a groove in the bone at the bottom of her eye socket. Whatever had struck her nearly punctured her eyeball but fortunately just grazed it.

The wound was unbecoming, but not as grotesque as she had originally imagined. But her lens was no doubt damage, everything was hazy and out of focus in her left eye. She could compensate with her right eye, but she was sure it would get worse over time. She had dressed the wound anyway, the cover up the disfigurement and to allow the cut to heal more. Asuka dropped her hand from the bandage.

They were running out of land to travel across. They were now on the west coast of Japan, wondering down the coast looking for God knew what. Shinji seemed to have relaxed after so much frenetic travel and the place they chose to settle down at was not something that Asuka would argue with. The cabin was comfy and with plenty of firewood, they could keep warm when the temperature dropped.

"But without something to do, I will go insane." Asuka grumbled, laying an arm over her eyes. "Shinji, you're such an idiot."

_Who would love an idiot like you? _Someone said in German.

Asuka's heart skipped a beat and she raised her arm, looking around the room. She knew someone had said it, or was it all in her head.

"Hello?" She probed. The cabin was silent. It wasn't Shinji, it sounded like a woman There was also a twisted pleasure in how it was said, every syllable milked for it's malicious quality. There was a powerful cruelty in that voice. Asuka could imagine herself saying that to Shinji in anger, but it would contain that evil delivery. Had she ever said that to someone else?

Something itched in a forgotten corner of her mind and her memories couldn't help but to scratch it. It never was important, but suddenly it felt relevant but she didn't know why. Given that she had the time and it was better than listening to imaginary voices, an unexpected trip down memory lane couldn't be too terrible.

She was a genius, a wonder child that no one at school could help but to adore. The instructors were pleased at her aptitude, the parents at her manners, and her fellow students for her beauty. Asuka was the perfect little girl in her element and with a grand destiny laid before her. NERV had chosen her for the clandestine Evangelion project. She would learn to be a defender of mankind, like a child born from the Greek gods, she would stand head and shoulders over all people.

While being styled to be a demigoddess, Asuka rocketed through the grades at school. Textbooks were consumed, cover-to-cover in a scant handful of weeks, while other children had to take four months to digest the contents. Her admirers worshipped her natural intellect, but were unaware of the hard work that took place behind the scenes. But that changed when someone mentioned her 'brother'.

It wasn't an easy mistake, but rather simple association. The boy had bounded through grades, seeming to mock his instructors and the exercises that were petty drills for him. He was the same age as Asuka, but was shorter, having failed to reach puberty. Despite his size and his academic success, no one picked on him because not only was he smart, but brutal. He had been forced to transfer to several schools after getting into fights, his reputation was that of a land mine for bullies. Asuka hated the fact that such a troubled boy could match her brains and much to her chagrin, the feeling was mutual.

Their peers and superiors looked on in admiration as the two 'geniuses' in the school waged a silent war of academic achievement. Jockeying for the highest possible averages. The competition for grades however, became trivial, when she crossed the boy's path at NERV. The thorn in her paw turned out to be much more difficult to pull out, and when they passed each other in the hall, Asuka could not meet his cold stare. Asuka physically shuddered at the memory of the look her gave her.

"What was your name?" Asuka asked the little demigod of her memories. The reply never came because she couldn't remember it. With a huff, Asuka rolled onto her side and slipped the memory back into the corner where she had stored it. It didn't matter if she remembered his name. If his attitude didn't kill him, he had been wiped out like the rest of the human race. Again she thought of got up off the couch and stood next to a window. She looked out at the bright day and the surrounding woods. There was no sign of the missing idiot.

A door creaked and Asuka almost jumped out of her skin. Whirling around, she scanned the deserted living room. Nothing seemed out of place, she felt her heart pound in her chest, her imagination conjuring all sorts of horrors that could be lurking. An innocent girl in a supposedly empty house was the makings of many a horror flick. But that was a ridiculous notion, no one was here, the house was empty. Determined to prove her courage, Asuka strode into the abode to hunt down the source of the disturbance.

The duo never fully explored the cabin before they chose to stay here. Shinji had been the one to enter and seek out any sort of dangers while Asuka sat outside like a good little dog. It irritated her immensely, but she was too tired to complain, let alone argue with a volunteer. Why Shinji was so adamant about checking a place that would have been abandoned was beyond her reasoning them as it was now, but Asuka wanted to make sure.

Standing in a short hallway, Asuka found everything to be in its place save for one ajar door from which sunlight glowed. Slowly she eased it open to reveal a small, rustic office. Books lined a pair of cabinets, a drafting table was propped up in one corner with numerous maps on it, which a recliner lounged in another. The wall beneath the large window was a workbench covered with papers and a wheeled chair. Asuka approached the far end of the room and picked up one of the documents. The writing was kanji but had an official air about it. Many of the documents followed the same suit, wedge beneath layers of maps and blue prints. Lying in the centre of the workbench was a single, modest volume of burgundy leather. Asuka craned her neck, some sense of reverence stopping her from picking up the tome. The script was tiny, a fine hand having scrawled across the top of the page.

_-only confirms what the reports have already stated. Reparation procedures have been halting the natural recovery process of the entire region. Seasonal wildlife has not taken any sort migration behaviours and animals and insects with seasonal die off have instead continued to struggle with reduced resources._

A standard English paragraph in a cursive hand was what greeted Asuka. She reread the lines again, shock shuddering through her as she picked up the book, scarcely believing the treasure she had found. Out in the middle of the Japanese countryside, she had found the log book of a scientist who knew English, a language she could read. She continued doing just that, until she was at the end of the page.

Asuka stood with the log book in her hands, hesitant to continue her perusal. She was probably holding the last remnant of information from an age that no one would ever see again. The last thoughts of someone with a strangely eclectic collection of disciplines. No, not disciplines, this was someone who was simply discussing changes in the natural world, a journal containing thoughts and considerations beyond personal feelings and events. Lifting the previous pages and letting them slide over the spine in a buzzing flurry, Asuka saw sketches, notes on margins, maps, and more and more of the literary chatter of a busy mind. A soul completely unaware that the end of the world was coming, these were their final, uninhibited thoughts. In a way, this was private information closely linked to another person, she held something deeply personal to who they were and a moral bone in her body warned her from continuing her invasion. However, she scoffed at the notion that some vengeful spirit would haunt her for the trespass. All told, it would be far more interesting than the empty world she was in now. Furthermore, the author's story should be known to someone else, and Asuka knew their secrets would be safe with her.

Sitting down in the recliner, she opted to start at the beginning. Asuka leaned back and proceeded to read.

* * *

The bright morning sun caressed his face with its warm touch. Shinji stirred, slowly opening his eyes and looking up at the clear blue sky above. He blinked, confused and slowly turned his head, finding trees and brush surrounding him. The air was still, not even the wind touching the leaves of the trees that towered over him.

With a grunt, Shinji tried to sit up, wincing at the pain of many bruises and stinging cuts. He was at the bottom of a very sharp incline, his descent having left a trail of trampled bushes and dirt in his wake. Say that he was lucky to be alive was overstating the drop, but he didn't feel as though any of his limbs were broken, which had they been, would have seriously impaired any kind of travel from his current predicament.

Shinji slowly pulled himself to his feet, dusting off leaves and twigs. His foot bumped into the flashlight he had dropped and he tested the battery and with a sigh of irritation, realized it had gone out. Judging from he sunlight he was out a good couple of hours but didn't feel any sort of chill. No loss of blood then?

Having ensured that he wasn't too injured to move, Shinji looked around and quickly realized that he was lost. He had remembered roughed the direction he had gone when he left the cabin, but having followed the music. Shinji paused and listened carefully. There it was, a new song this time, or at least a part he couldn't remember from before. Shinji slid the handle of the flashlight into his pocket and proceeded towards the sound.

It only took a few minutes before he arrived at a clearing at the top of another bluff, one which he had no intention of dropping down this time. At the centre of the clearing rose a watch tower built on four stilts several stories high. He had seen these lookout posts on nature documentaries, a way for reservationists to keep watch over large tracts of land. Particularly for fires if he could recall. Whatever the reason, it was the source of the stood at the base of the tower, looking up the windows high above. He called out a greeting and received no response. He tried again, a little louder. Still nothing. But then why was he hearing music? Approaching the ladder, Shinji looked up the near dizzying heights towards the landing or the stairs set a story above, probably to ensure no dangerous animal decided to roost up there. Swallowing he began his ascent.

Inwardly Shinji simply focused on watching where his hands were going, keeping his eyes focused on the hatch and not at the ground. He was thankful that Asuka wasn't with him, the last time he was climbing a ladder with her he had been threatened with death for looking up her skirt. As if there was enough light to see anything, he was lucky he could find the hand holds. In the end, he still got a face full of her shoe and then the top of the ladder, Shinji continued up the staircase, reaching a wooden hatch in the floor of the watch post. He nudged it with the heel of his hands. It didn't budge. He pushed harder and it gave with suddenness that caused him to fall forward against the stairs. He gasped in pain as the corners of the steps slammed into his chest. He pulled himself up and slowly crawled into the watch post, looking up to see the source of the sound as the music ended and another string of speech came on.

It was a radio. He had been dragged into the middle of the woods by a hand radio. Shinji stared at the modest little machine sitting on the desk before him. He should have known better, all along he knew there wasn't another person here, especially when he called out, but he didn't want to believe his own common sense, sitting on the edge of the trapdoor, the boy simply shook his head out of disbelief over his own stupidity. Asuka would have been quick to remind him of that fact.

Thinking about how he was going to explain how he found a recording broadcasting… Shinji looked back at the radio. When they had heard music coming from abandoned cars, it had always been discs, but never a radio transmission. No stations were broadcasting after the power went out, so how could a radio receiver be getting a signal. Shinji approached the device, the man speaking didn't make any sense and it sounded like nonsense to Shinji. But then he grasped a few words, passages, and the overall manner of speech was German. This radio was picking up a German signal from way out here.

Shinji look around. Wall to wall, all he could see were windows staring out at the rolling forests to the north and south, mountains steadily rising to the east, and lowering to the ocean to the west. He was a long way from the sea and the mountains now. Just how far was the signal coming from? Lifting the small hand radio Shinji noticed two sets of wires leading off of the device and out a window that was slightly ajar.

Opening the window further, Shinji followed the lines to a small solar panel and an antenna at had been fastened to the side of the lookout post. At least that explained why the radio still had power. A thought struck him. If he was getting a signal all the way out here, would it be possible to take the radio all the way to the cabin, set up the equipment and thus receive the broadcast. Asuka would be able to know what they were saying.

Thinking of Asuka ceased Shinji's giddiness. He had been gone for a long time now, longer than he intended and now he was getting worried about her. She was still sick after all, and for all she knew, she might think he abandoned her. Like Shinji's father did to him. No, he wasn't going to do that. He could set a better example than his father did. Shinji stared intently at the radio. He couldn't rush this, he had to think it through.

The hand radio was small, but the receiver and the solar panel were not. No doubt they'd also be fragile. He also needed to make sure he remembered every detail about how the radio was set up, what wire went where, what frequency the radio was on, everything. He needed to make notes. Looking around the post, Shinji did a double-take as he saw the puddle on the floor, seeping into the wood.

Shinji had gotten used to stumbling upon the remains of other people, but it was always disheartening to discover another one. This one had broken down on a chair, a backpack leaning against it, bent as thought sulking. The victim was previously writing something down on a notepad. Whatever was written had become muddy as the LCL soaked and crumpled. Shinji plucked a piece of paper from the desk that had escaped the splatter and a similarly clean pen and began making his notes.

* * *

Her brain was only half awake when she heard her name called from afar. A few moments of gathering her wits passed before she finally jumped. The journal slid and feel to the floor. With a hiss of self-admonishment, Asuka snapped up the tome, snapped it shut and tucked it back onto the recliner. She arrived as Shinji shut the front door, tenderly setting a greasy, overloaded backpack on the floor.

"Asuka, it's good to see you're alright." Shinji panted, raising his head to show his face drawn with fatigue. T took several moments too long for him to notice the dangerous look on the red head's face.

"Where the hell were you, you idiot? I had the mind to leave you in this knothole of wilderness if it weren't for the fact that my guts were practically spilling out every morning!" Shinji was taken aback from the assault, both mentally and physically, falling back against the door. "You look like you've been on a death march. What have you been doing all this time? Playing hide and seek by yourself."

From Shinji's point of view, this was probably what it was like to come home drunk, provided it wasn't the Katsuragi household. Asuka was all huffy and indignant, absolutely furious at the zombie that had just now found its way back. Shinji scrubbed the sides of his face.

"You really haven't changed." Shinji mumbled. Asuka fixed him a sharp look.

"What was that?" She growled. Shinji didn't respond, setting his eyes on the backpack. Asuka rolled her eyes in irritation.

"You went out foraging and slipped in LCL again? Is this going to be a weekly thing for you?"

"I found a radio. It was receiving German transmissions." Shinji pushed out. Asuka looked at him incredulously. "I can set it up again, once I-" The boy simply let the sentence hang as he slowly dragged himself to the couch and collapsed onto it like a bag of boots. Asuka leaned over the back of the couch, glaring at him but he had quickly given way to unconsciousness.

"How rude." Asuka grumbled to herself. She looked back at the backpack, recalling Shinji's news. Crouching down she opened the sack and carefully extracted a collapsed receiver and a solar panel before fishing out a modest looking radio with a note attached to it be a shoe string. Carefully unfolding the note, Asuka found scribbled diagrams and a list of numbers. Shinji appeared to have done a good job making the sketches legible, but altogether they certainly wouldn't be professional grade.

Asuka considered the equipment carefully. It was difficult to grasp what kind of boon this was. If Shinji was right and there as a German transmission coming from somewhere, he wanted her to translate it. Of course, he'd probably want to be the one to try and set it up. That idiot was really enjoying the smaller, more timid girl she had become what with the stubborn bug she had. She never had been sick enough to be away from her normal activities back in Tokyo-3 and it seemed as though Shinji was capitalizing on it. Nuts to that theory.

Asuka's medicine had kicked in, she was feeling good about the book she found, they were in a safe place, and hundreds of other reasons outweighed the completely minor ones. She'd set up the radio without him, she'd prove that she wasn't helpless and that she wasn't going to tolerate that kind of lax behaviour. She wasn't going to wait on his instruction any longer. She packed everything into the backpack again and carried it outside to get to work.

* * *

**Author's Notes  
**Shigeru was the first on my list of characters that simply had to go. I originally intended for him to be a middle man between Shinji and Asuka and to develop into a father figure. In the end, I tossed him out a lot earlier. I guess I just liked him in the show and wanted to give him some screen time.

I originally intended to cut down two chapters from the early part of the fiction, but I've instead opted to break down the middle part of the opening arc into two chapters, there is simply too much stuff I want to cover before I move on.

Also, I'm not sure when, but evenually my posting speed will drop down as I get out of the old chapters and onto new content. Since this early part is mostly just a rewrite I can quickly type out everything and just add the changes where I see fit.


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